Welcome back to Slow News Days, a now-and-then newsletter on journalism and journalism-adjacent topics in the Philippines.
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Many in the journalism community in Manila have learned to wait for the Telum newsletters on movements in the industry, and it is clear from recent issues that these past months have been a time of transitions and transfers for many of us.
We’ve seen colleagues leave the industry — decisions no doubt helped along by the political environment and the fact that we need money to survive — but have also seen some make huge leaps towards bigger opportunities.
I hope that it will be the latter for more of us, especially these three who I have had the honor and pleasure to work with and who are now seeking work:
Kristine Joy Patag
I have known Tin since she was justice reporter for BusinessWorld and have always been impressed with her earnestness and her determination to get and follow a story, even across newsrooms.
At BusinessWorld, she reported on overtime pay issues at the Bureau of Immigration that eventually led to the “pastillas” bribery scandal at the bureau, which she also wrote about years later at Philstar.com.
Since joining Philstar.com, she has covered the justice beat and the courts — including the moves to remove Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice — and is a meticulous and detail-oriented reporter who can break down legal jargon for the layperson (often at the cost of her own sanity).
Deputy news editor since July 2022, Tin has also produced longform pieces on the psychological effects of pandemic lockdowns, the plight of political prisoners and of Persons Deprived of Liberty, and led the website’s fact-checking efforts under the Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator.Xave Gregorio
Xave was, until recently, covering the Senate as his primary beat. He has also been writing about media issues and started work on ‘Prism’, our attempt at more intentional coverage of gender and LGBTQ+ issues.
He has also covered the House of Representatives and Malacañang and, by divine providence, the Hong Kong protests.
Xave was showrunner, writer and host of ‘Anyare?’, Philstar.com’s first foray into video explainers.
The series in Filipino is an attempt to marry in-depth reporting with humor, memes and pop culture references (it is an open marriage, I guess).
Xave has also worked for CNN Philippines and Politiko.Kaycee Valmonte
Also a BusinessWorld alum, Kaycee covered foreign relations and migration for Philstar.com.
Before she left the newsroom, she was writing about Overseas Filipino Workers and the Filipino diaspora.
She covered the 2022 US midterm elections as part of the International Reporting Tour hosted by the US Department of State's Foreign Press Center and was also selected by the Australian Embassy for a study tour in Canberra and Sydney in March this year.
She also ran News From Home, a weekly “newsletter” on Philstar.com curating news relevant to OFWs and diaspora communities.
Also assigned to cover human rights, Kaycee is among the fellows of the Drug Policy Reform Initiative.
The three would be great additions to any newsroom, or you can hire them together as a set.
I am also winding down my time at Philstar.com after seven years and will be out of the company by August. I think we had a good run and I will always be grateful for the opportunities and the freedom to experiment that working with them brought.
Moving forward, I do plan to keep working in news and hope to have something good to announce before I become officially unemployed.
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ANYWAY, climate change education in the Philippines is supposed to be integrated into school subjects under the K to 12 curriculum, but, in practice, it is only really taught by science teachers. This has meant missing discussions on how climate change is a societal issues.
People are selling children on Facebook, where “babies are offered like regular products in online stores,” according to this story by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Legal adoption is done through the National Authority for Child Care, but the process is slow, making illegal ones online an option for some couples.
Remate Online photojournalist Joshua Abiad was shot while driving in Quezon City this week. Motive for the attack is still unclear, but Abiad has signed as a witness in government drug operations, a practice that puts media at risk of retaliation from drug suspects. It also obligates them to attend court hearings on the case or face being cited in contempt.
From Davao, the story of Pilar Barredo, a public school teacher red-tagged by Sara Duterte, who is now vice president and also secretary of education:
“I saw policemen carrying poster-sized photos of me and other chapter officers, like Elenito Escalante, Willy Lacatan, and Rey Pardillo…. They blocked us from entering the flag ceremony despite the invitation of Councilor Pilar Braga”
TeleRadyo signed off on June 29, its staff the latest victims of the 2020 decision by a House panel to deny ABS-CBN a new franchise.
From AlterMidya:“This upcoming shutdown of another credible news outfit in our age of information disorder is a defeat not only for the media industry. Ultimately, it is the Filipino public who will suffer from such a long-term loss.”
Finally, on Teka Teka News: The court decision affirming that Bonifacio Global City is not part of Makati is a big win for Taguig, but presents problems for residents outside the business district who have been “Makatizens” and who have been getting government services from the original financial center of Metro Manila.